Jeremiah 15:7

⁵ Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

⁶ You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.

I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.

⁸ I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.

⁹ The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. And the rest I will put to the sword in the presence of their enemies,” declares the LORD.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.
KJV: And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
WEB: I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They didn’t return from their ways.
ASV: And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved [them] of children, I have destroyed my people; they returned not from their ways.
DARBY: And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave of children [and] destroy my people: they have not returned from their ways.
BLB: And I will scatter them with a pitchfork at the gates of the land; I will bereave and destroy My people, who have not turned from their ways.

ÅB: Og jeg kaster dem med kasteskovl ut igjennom landets porter, jeg gjør mitt folk barnløst, jeg ødelegger det, fordi det ikke vendte om fra sine veier.
OTB: Jeg vil kaste dem med en kasteskovl ved landets porter; jeg vil berøve dem deres barn og ødelegge mitt folk, for de har ikke omvendt seg fra sine veier.
B1930: Og jeg kaster dem med kasteskovl ut igjennem landets porter, jeg gjør mitt folk barnløst, jeg ødelegger det, fordi det ikke vendte om fra sine veier.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Matthew 3:12
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 51:2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
Read in context
Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
Read in context
Isaiah 9:13
But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
Read in context
Isaiah 41:16
You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Read in context
Psalms 1:4
Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
Read in context
Jeremiah 8:4–5
So you are to tell them this is what the LORD says: “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not return?
Read in context
Jeremiah 18:21
Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Read in context